'…to whom it will be extremly Usefull.' Dr William Cullen's adoption of James Watt's copying machine

Dr William Cullen (1710–1790) was a leading physician of the Enlightenment era. As professor in Edinburgh he became the most influential teacher of theoretical and practical medicine in 18th century Britain. A renowned private practitioner, Cullen systematically archived his postal ‘consultations’, now held by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Initially Cullen preserved his replies as transcriptions, but from April 1781 he began using a mechanical copier, newly devised by the Scottish engineer James Watt. This paper describes the development, promotion and functioning of Watt’s copier and considers Cullen’s own adoption of the machine. It is suggested that with Cullen’s adoption of Watt’s copier, medical record keeping entered a new historical phase comparable with the recent digital revolution

The preservation, storage, and handling of black-and-white photographic records

The subject of this article is the preservation of processed blackand- white photographic records in libraries. Since silver gelatin photographic films and papers have been around for about a century, and since by far the largest number of black-and-white photographic images are silver gelatin images, knowledge of the properties of these records is extensive. Factors that may affect their stability are, for the most part, well known.published or submitted for publicatio

Technology’s Promise, the Copying of Records, and the Archivist’s Challenge: A Case Study in Documentation Rhetoric

Discussion of implications of electrostatic photocopying on archival appraisal, with particular attention to the macro-appraisal and collaborative models offered by Helen Samuels

Of Monks, Medieval Scribes, and Middlemen

Today\u27s copyright debate has generally focused on the digital dilemma created by Internet and new media technologies. Threats created by emerging communications technologies, however, are not new. Throughout history, there have been remarkable similarities between the threats created by new technologies and those posed by older ones. During the oral argument in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., Justice Stephen Breyer questioned whether the petitioners\u27 counsel would apply the test proposed for the new technology to some once-new technologies, such as the photocopying machine, the videocassette recorder, the iPod, and the printing press. When the counsel quickly responded in the affirmative in each case, Justice Breyer could not help but quip, [F]or all I know, the monks had a fit when Gutenberg made his press. While the Justice\u27s timely observation unsurprisingly earned laughter from the audience, it also provoked us to rethink the nature, newness, and ramifications of the challenge confronting the entertainment industry today. Many legal scholars have described copyright as a response to the emergence of the printing press. However, very few have examined the press\u27s impact on a group of contemporary middlemen - the medieval scribes. This Essay undertakes this inquiry and explores the impact of the then-new technology on the now-obsolete scribal industry. It begins by tracing the emergence of medieval scribes and the printing press and concludes with observations on the policy responses to the challenge created by the Internet and new communications technologies

BCR’s CDP Digital Imaging Best Practices, Version 2.0

This is the published version.These Best Practices — also referred to as the CDP Best Practices -- have been created through the collaboration of working groups pulled from library, museum and archive practitioners. Version 1 was created through funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services through a grant to the University of Denver and the Colorado Digitization Program in 2003. Version 2 of the guidelines were published by BCR in 2008 and represents a significant update of practices under the leadership of their CDP Digital Imaging Best Practices Working Group. The intent has been to help standardize and share protocols governing the implementation of digital projects. The result of these collaborations is a set of best practice documents that cover issues such as digital imaging, Dublin Core metadata and digital audio. These best practice documents are intended to help with the design and implementation of digitization projects. Because they were collaboratively designed by experts in the field, you can be certain they include the best possible information, in addition to having been field tested and proven in practice. These best practice documents are an ongoing collaborative project, and LYRASIS will add information and new documents as they are developed

Is Computer Ethics Unique?

The rise of various unique, or uniquely transformed, ethical issues supports the claim that computer ethics deserves to be regarded as an academic field in its own right. Some of these issues are unique because they inherit the unique properties of the technology that generates or transforms them. When we are unable to resolve these issues through non-computer moral analogies, we are forced to discover new moral values, formulate new moral principles and develop new policies

An investigation into the D.H. Lawrence Manuscript and Special Collection at the Hallward Library, University of Nottingham

The aim of this study is to investigate the growth and management of the D.H. Lawrence collection held in the Manuscript and Special collections department at the Hallward Library, University of Nottingham. This study will examine four main areas of the Lawrence collection and its actual management. The study will first give an account of the collections history and growth in order to give the reader an insight into the collection itself. The study will then examine the importance of public relations in securing acquisitions and how the department has dealt with this expanding collection. A further area to be examined will be the financing and budgeting of the collection as well as the departments' acquisition policy with particular reference to gifts, exchanges and endowments. The D.H. Lawrence cataloguing and retrieving systems in recent years have undergone considerable change, this study will examine carefully the reasons why there was a need for change and how these systems have been introduced and the consequences for the collection and department as a whole. Finally, aspects of conservation, preservation and security of the Lawrence collection will be investigated, examining managerial responses to the problems encountered. To conclude an overall examination of the collection management will be discussed as well as the future prospects of the D.H. Lawrence Manuscript and Special Collection